A Viewpoint on Chemical Reductions of Carbon–Oxygen Bonds in Renewable Feedstocks Including CO2 and Biomass

This Viewpoint presents a perspective on recent successes, challenges and research opportunities in the catalytic reduction of renewable carbon feedstocks, such as CO2 and biomass. Operating a shift from petrochemistry to utilize sustainable carbon resources imposes the development of efficient reduction methods, able to promote the conversion of C-O bonds to C-H bonds in an energy and atom efficient manner. Current reductive processes based on the utilization of main group hydrides, H2, formic acid and Hantzsch esters are compared to highlight their potential and limitations. Catalysis is key in present and future developments of sustainable reductive transformations and the design of efficient catalytic systems is examined to overcome the challenges facing each class of reductant.

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